Improved folding chair



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUSTUS ELAERS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

lMPROVED FOLDING CHAIR.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 15, 5.46, dated November 22, 1864.

To a/ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, AUGUSTUS ELIAERs, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Chairs; and I do hereby declare that the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying plate of drawings, hereinafter referred to, forms a full and exact specification of the same, wherein I have set forth the nature and principles of my said improvements,

whereby my invention may be distinguished from all others of a similar class, together with such parts as I claim and desire to have secured to me by Letters Patent.

My improvements are designed for the purpose otl so arranging and constructing achair that its back can be set at any desired inclination, and so that the whole chair can be brought into a very small compass, to facilitate its transportation from place to place.

My improvements consist in connecting a pivoted seat by means of suitable braces with the hind legs ofthe chair, and held or locked thereto by a locking device in such a manner as to vary at pleasure the angle which the vrear legs make with the front ones. Also, in constructing a flexible back with a rigid ring or bar, so attached to the legs ot' the chair as to both shape the flexible back and also enable it to be folded into a small compass.

The figures ot' the accompanying` plate of drawings represent my improvements. Figure l is aside elevation of my improved chair. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing` the chair in different positions. Fig. 3 is a central vertical sectionof the same. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are detail views, to be hereinafter referred to.

a a in the drawings represent the front or main legs of the chair, to which is attached, by pivots at b b, the seat c, which is supported by braces e (turning` upon a pivot at j) and f hooked together at g, so as to be readily engaged with or disengaged from each other. The rear braces, j', are attached to a hollow cross-bar, h h, within which play two horizontal rods viz', that can bel made to engage with or be disengaged from notches 7c lo, Sto., in the hind legs, l Z, (hinged to the front legs at m,) as follows: Within the hollow cross-bar h h is placed a box, o, Figs. 4t, 5, and 6, attached to which, by apivot p, is a short leverarm, q, terminating in a circular plate, t, Figs. 5 and 6, which also turns upon the pivot p. To this plate, by means of pins s s, are connected the rods i i, having spiral springs t t upon them, that serve to keep the ends of the said rods engaged with the notches of the hind legs of the chair. By turning the leverarm g it will be seen that the rods t z' can be drawn out from the notches 7c 7c, and then by relieving the pressure upon it the springs t t will force the rods 'it' again into any of the notches desired and, as the hind legs are hinged to thefront ones, it will be evident that by this arrangement they can be set and held at any desired inclination. In Fig. 4 the rods z i are represented as operated by a pinion, n, and racks c, as will readily be understood. The flexible back w w is formed at the bottom, so as to give it a semicircular shape, by means ot' a bent bar, .70, Fig. 3, pivoted to the front legs, a a, at b, so as to be turned up, if desired, into the 'position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2. The whole chair can be folded into a very narro\v compass, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2, by disconnecting the braces e and j' and setting the cross-bar h la at its lowest point in the hind legs, t l.

It will be observed that by the arrangement of braces and locking devices the chair is supported without the use of arms.

Having thus described my improvements, l shall state my claims, as follows:

I do not claim so arranging a folding chair that a flexible back is tightened or loosened by the movement of the seat, but

Nhat l claim as my invention, and derire to have secured to me by Letters Patent, is-

l. rlhe arrangement ofthe pivoted seat supported by suitable braces held by a locking device in such a manner that the chair can be set at any desired inclination, as described.

2. The arrangement of the locking device and pivoted or hinged legs operatin g together, as described.

3. The usev of a rigid pivoted ring or bar to shape the flexible back, and also to enable it to be folded into a small compass, arranged substantially as described.

AUGUSTUS ELIAERS.

Witnesses:

JosEPn GAVETT, A. PoLLoK. 

